1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an interior panel unit for permitting an arrangement of cables and devices on a room floor, the panel being used in an office or computer room to arrange an office-automation system.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional interior panel unit is available to realize an office-automation system by arranging power cables, signal cables, and various types of equipment on a room floor in an office or computer room, as described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,593,499 and 4,631,879.
More specifically, a given unit has blocks having shapes to be engaged with each other at a peripheral portion of a rectangular floor base installed on a foundation floor surface of a room, and blocks on each floor base are engaged with and coupled to each other to form each floor base on the foundation floor surface.
In another unit, a plurality of columnar members are mounted on a lower floor base installed on a foundation floor surface, and an upper floor base is supported by the columnar members with a gap corresponding to the height of each columnar member from the foundation floor surface.
However, in the former unit, an operation for coupling the blocks of the adjacent floor bases is required. This operation is cumbersome and time-consuming. Therefore, much labor is required to install the floor bases on the entire surface of the foundation floor base of the room. In addition, when each block is designed each that it fits tight into another, thereby to form a strong unit. Much labor is also required to form such a unit. Consequently, it takes much time to assemble and install the interior panel unit. When the blocks are loosely coupled to each other, the installation can be facilitated. However, the upper floor consisting of floor bases does not have a sufficiently flat surface or adequate stability.
The latter unit has a structure wherein the lower floor base is installed on the foundation floor surface of the room and the upper floor base is supported and fixed through the plurality of columnar members. The adjacent lower floor bases are not coupled to each other. For this reason, the lower floor bases are not integrally coupled. Therefore, when the upper floor base is supported and fixed, stability and flatness of the upper floor surface consisting of the upper floor bases are degraded.